Committed To A Fresh Start

Committed To A Fresh Start

January 11th, 2004

WHAT WE NEED TO BE COMMITTED TO

Have you heard about the man who moved into a retirement community to spend the rest of his life there? It wasn¡¦t long until he had made a number of friends among the other residents.

There was one lady he was especially attracted to, and she was attracted to him, also. So they spent a lot of time together. Finally one evening he proposed, asking her to marry him.

The next morning he woke up remembering his proposal, but he couldn¡¦t remember her answer.

So he went to her and said, "I¡¦m really embarrassed. I proposed to you last night but I can¡¦t remember if you said `Yes¡¦ or `No."¡¦

"Oh, thank goodness!" she replied. "I remembered saying `Yes¡¦ but I couldn¡¦t remember who asked me."

Sometimes I feel that way about New Year¡¦s resolutions.

I tell myself, "This year I¡¦m going to turn over a new leaf. I¡¦m going to exercise regularly and lose weight. I¡¦m going to do all kinds of things to improve myself physically and spiritually."

But then somehow I forget. How many of you have that problem, too?

So¡K this year I have a suggestion for a New Year¡¦s resolution that we ought to be able to remember.

It is kind of broad and very general, but here it is¡K let¡¦s promise God and ourselves that we will make a change for the better.

Does that sound like a good resolution?

This year, as God¡¦s people, and as His church, let¡¦s make this one simple resolution - we¡¦re going to make a change for the better.

Let¡¦s just commit ourselves to a fresh start with God ¡V as we talked about last week.

We¡¦ve entitled this series on ¡§What We Need To Be Committed To.¡¨

Every one of us needs to raise the level of commitments we have in our lives. We need to raise the bar in our lives.

Someone once said¡K ¡§If you aim at nothing¡K you will surely hit it.¡¨

The Word commitment is a term that has become obsolete in a lot of ways.

¡P People use it to talk about marriage

¡P Pastors use it to ask how many people are willing to make a commitment

¡P Your boss uses it to be sure that your going to be committed to coming to work, etc.

What is commitment? It is an engagement or pledge to do something. It is an unreserved devotion, bound to stand fast or hold in place.

We live in a self-serving, throwaway, live-for-the-moment, do-what-feels-good, society.

Typically, the only commitments made these days are those that benefit you personally.

Commitments that are made are typically to worldly things. We are committed to things outside of God¡¦s economy.

(1 Th 3:8 GWT) "Now we can go on living as long as you keep your relationship with the Lord firm."

Paul is writing to the church describing the fulfillment of life ¡V by committing to their faith.

{You don¡¦t really live until you live a life of the committed.}

One of the first things we need to aim at being committed to having a fresh start

(We talked about this last week.)

I like the New Year because it helps me to do that.

I like going to bed at night because it allows me to be committed to a fresh start in the morning.

I like what Psalms says¡K His mercies are new every morning.

Remember what we talked about last week? We used the acronym START.

S - top making excuses

T - ake an inventory of my life

A - ct in faith

R- efocus

T- rust in God

What Do I Need To Be Committed To?

1. I Need To Be Committed To A Growing Relationship With Jesus Christ.

This is an on going experience. It¡¦s not just a one-time experience.

It is something that I continue to work on. It is something that I continue to grow in.

I should be going deeper and deeper and stronger and stronger.

It is like a lot of the video games that are out there¡K you get to one level and there is always another level.

You don¡¦t win until you die and go to heaven!

I want to look back at the end of this year and say ¡V I¡¦m a better person ¡V that I have a deeper faith.

(Phil 3:8 NKJV) "Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ"

(1 Cor 2:2 NKJV) "For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified."